Archive for the ‘QV is Beautiful’ Category
January 26th
Tom Hall is an IT lawyer, fountain pen aficionado, author, and frequent guest blogger round these parts. Here are his thoughts on the Habana — and a page from his newest work-in-progress…
Some days we are lucky, and the mail carrier does not leave behind any bills. Other days we are VERY lucky and he or she leaves behind a fat envelope containing a sample from Karen at Exaclair.
A few weeks ago one of those envelopes arrived, holding a Habana notebook. I’ve been a bit slow to write about it. It is almost too nice to use, leaving me with a puzzle: What should I write in it? Daily notes? Class notes? To Do lists? Article drafts? Sketches for never-to-be woodworking projects? Probably not. All these are ephemeral, or, at least disposable. 80 sheets of 90 gram Clairefontaine paper is simply too good for “Take out the trash,” “Fix the kitchen sink,” and “The Grate Great aMAmerican Novl Novel”. Such transitory and inconsequential expressions do not belong in a notebook so well made that it, and its contents, may be around long after I’ve shuffled off my mortal coil. Besides, do I want the great-grandkids to know that I did manage to fix the sink?
Then I had an AHA! Moment. It would be a tremendous lab notebook. It is durable. At 6”x9” and 80 sheets, it offers plenty of room to write. More, the pages handle fountain pen ink and even heavy pencil with aplomb. This image shows a few lines written with J. Herbin ink and my big Parker, Duofold, which lays down ink like a paint brush. Provided I did my part, the Habana would provide me with a permanent record, a record for the ages. I pictured myself handing it to my patent attorney, to document my claims to my world-shaking discovery, clutching it as I accepted, with suitable humility, my Nobel Prize. I imagined my descendants, many generations removed from now, gazing at it in admiration, in its place of honor beside the Declaration of Independence. But then Reality intruded, reminding me that I haven’t had a science course since high school, where I shared a lab bench with Francis Bacon. My last experiment (an attempt to brew a new ink) produced only bad smells and that I can hardly change a light bulb without running a very risk of electrocuting myself.
Only somewhat daunted, I returned to the conundrum: What does one write in a notebook that cries out to be written in, but which also demands quality content?
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January 20th
Guest blogger John Cullen teaches literature at Ferris State University and has a lot of dogs and horses. He’s been a fountain pen fiend for about thirty years; here are his thoughts on the Habana…
(Image via Writer’s Bloc.)
Well, generally I have gotten pretty cynical about journals over the years. I hate to think how much I have spent only to end up throwing journals away because they will not open flat on the table or the paper inside the journal is so bad it makes the writing experience feel like punishment. Add to that the fact I use a fountain pen and you can see why finding a good journal has been a trial.
Recently I got on a chat board where people discussed these issues in depth and many people recommended I get a Quo Vadis Habana notebook. In fact, people spoke in glowing terms about these journals. Yeah, right, I thought, but then I figured I would give one a try. What a pleasant surprise this journal has been!
The Habana is roughly 5 x 9 inches and comes with 80 pages of Clairefontaine lined paper. The cover looks and feels like leather, and the spacing on the white paper is generous. So from a cosmetic perspective, this is a great journal. There is even a stretchy band to keep the journal closed.
But how would it work when actually put to use?
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January 18th
IT lawyer, fountain pen aficionado, and guest blogger Tom Hall recently took the Journal 21 for a test drive. Here are his thoughts…
“Let me check my calendar.”
The first time I uttered those words, I knew I was no longer young and carefree, with my every moment under my sole control. On the other hand, it meant that I was out of school and gainfully employed. In another moment I realized that I did not HAVE a calendar. Thus I joined professionals worldwide in the Quest for the Perfect Planner.
For a long time I used a simple, pocket-sized planner. It was all I needed to navigate from meeting to meeting to meeting to meeting during the work day. More than once it kept me from arriving at the office on a holiday.
Then along came pocket sized, electronic planners. Like most guys, I’m a sucker for gadgets, and this one came with a built in rationalization: it made coordinating my schedule with my secretary far easier. I used it quite happily for several years, until I was asked to give a deposition in a contract dispute. The opposing attorney asked where I had been on a given day, several years earlier. Thanks to the electronic gadget, I was able to tell him. Unhappily, he decided to explore my schedule for that day in detail, and then did the same for every day for the week before and after. Needless to say, I no longer carry around such extensive records of my days.
As time moved forward, the maker of my favorite electronic gadget fell on hard times. They revised their products to keep pace with competition, raised their prices and eliminated the features I valued. When my gadgets wore out, I discovered that there were no adequate successors available. I was, apparently, obsolete. Somewhat bemused, I rejoined the Quest.
About this time, Karen put out a call for volunteers willing to test Exacompta planners. Her timing was exquisite. I had strayed from the True Path, and was attempting, with little success and much frustration, to sync the calendar on my cell phone with an on line service. My brother said it best: “Isn’t pencil and paper faster, easier and more reliable?”
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January 6th
Speaking of ministers, guest blogger David Maliniak recently took one for a test drive… here’s his take on the experience.
The concept of planning inherently implies a disciplined approach to an endeavor; that endeavor can range from something as mundane as a trip to the grocery store to the broader concerns of life itself. Some weeks ago, I took up Exaclair’s Karen Doherty on the gracious 2nd Annual Planner Review offer and received a very nice Minister 2010 Agenda Planning Diary for evaluation. Using it got me thinking about my personal history with planning and how I organize my time and life.
I’ve always liked to think of myself as a relatively organized person. I don’t lose things; my desk is pretty neat. My professional life revolves around deadlines and schedules. I’m an editor for a trade magazine/website that serves electronic design engineers and there’s always an interview to conduct, stories to write, meetings to attend. I manage to juggle it all one way or another. Sure, balls drop from time to time but on balance, I stay on track.
But the dirty little secret that I harbor is this: I’m not really as organized as I seem. I don’t even like to admit it to myself, but the truth is that my organizational skills hang on a very slender thread. What I’ve realized is that I’m not so much organized as I am habitual. Using planners has always hinged on habit for me. If I didn’t forget to write in them, I’d forget to look at them later.
Now that I’m in my fifties, I find that I cannot rely on my memory as I did when I was 20 or 30.
Past efforts at using paper planners, and there have been a few, have petered out due to an inability to develop the habit of using them. Over the years I’ve learned to rely on computer-based organization tools provided by my employer, such as Microsoft Outlook. But should I forget to set alarms and reminders for things, Outlook can quickly devolve into “Look out!” I’ve tried using my cell phone’s calendar function, but entering data on it is just too darned hard.
So upon receiving the Quo Vadis planner, I resolved that this time would be different. “Yeah, sure,” you’re thinking. But I’ve already hit upon some things that I believe will be the keys to success for this undisciplined soul.
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January 5th
Which profession is our illustrious Minister planning format named after? If you’re like me, your thoughts probably turned to a member of the clergy.
But as Karen recently explained, the name takes its cue from the French word for “Secretary” – i.e., Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Education, etc. (We use the word in that sense in English, too, of course, but it’s not as common — at least, not here in the States.)
Inneresting, eh?
January 4th
Karen posted this on Rhodia Drive last week, and I thought our readers might enjoy it, too — a poem by author Tree Riesener about J. Herbin ink.
As always, we love seeing the artwork that our little community produces, and poems are no exception. So writers… keep it coming, no matter what inspires you!
Les Encres de Monsieur Herbin
Encre Authentique, “Lawyers’ Ink,” for orders of execution, though paper crumbles, glowing in the night for three hundred years, enduring black legalese, these letters.
Grise Nuage, grey clouds of 1943 for Irene Sendlerowa, savior of children from the Warsaw Ghetto, for her heart broken, but never broken, of little ease, these letters.
Bouquet d’Antan, please please don’t leave, words in sorrowful faded rose, desolation unremembered, only watching the rain, writing, sorrow without surcease, these letters.
Cafe des Iles, never say you love me, and if we meet, I’ll pretend I’ve forgotten your face. Faded brown written on leaves, let them blow away in the breeze, these letters.
Violette Pensee, I will bury your bottle in fragrant petals, write by the light of candles on turtles’ backs, pen delicate lyrics of love and loss, plus an occasional tease, these letters.
Eclat de Saphir, flashing blue scooped from the sun-glinted ocean, sign room service for two, “Etouffee d’ecrevisses, Pinot Grigio, Mousse au chocolat,” caprice, these letters.
Lierre Sauvage, shadowed green, forest tree, flow as I copy out Akhmatova, “The glass doorbell rings, don’t touch me,” thoughts Stalin’s shadows could not seize, these letters.
For more information about Tree Riesener, visit her blog or her website.
December 15th
Here’s another Equology review from Kim Brugger, who took the Minister for a test drive this fall…
Overall—I like the planner. I enjoy using products that are green in nature. The first couple of pages were the standard reference type material—quite helpful if you are an international traveler. Once you get into the meat of planner (the calendar pages)—it has an interesting layout. There is a lot of good information on each of the pages. As you can see from the photo of the calendar pages—the date, the day of the week and the month are at the top of each of the columns. There is a small three month calendar at the far right along with which week of the year it is. On the right side of the calendar is a section for notes based on a standard set of categories (phone, fax, email, to do, etc). Useful for keeping quick notes that come up throughout the week. My only dislike with the planner was how busy the calendar pages looked. For most people—I imagine this wouldn’t be a distraction—but I tend towards a minimalistic slant.
I like that the planner will lay flat once you have worked the binding a bit to loosen it up. The included address book is helpful if you don’t have your contacts stored in a different location. The ink tests were helpful to determine which types of pens I can use. All of the inks performed well. I would say I thought the Pilot Precision V5 RT performed the best. That is my favorite daily use pen anyway—so that might have biased the testing 
I am looking forward to using this planner throughout 2010 and will definitely keep an eye out for future versions.
December 9th
We got a question recently about the difference between the Trinote, Septanote, and Prenote planner formats. The layout is the same in all three, but they do differ in size. At 8 1/4″ x 11 5/8″, the Prenote is the largest.
The Trinote is slightly smaller, at 7″ x 9 3/8″. And the Septanote, which is the same size as the Trinote, is an academic year calendar.
Also, for those of you who care about colors… it looks like both Trinote and Prenote print the dates in turquoise ink (see above), whereas the Septanote prints them in dark gray.
Hope this helps!
November 25th
Dear Friends, I have some 2010 planners to give away to Quo Vadis Blog fans!
I would appreciate any feedback you wish to offer on them: the materials, construction or design. Are they helpful to you in managing your time? Do they provide a place to record your ideas, lists, commitments that is easy to refer to and use? Do you use planners in “non-traditional” ways? We look forward to hearing from you. Your comments alert us to any issues we need to address, and help us to make Quo Vadis planners continually more responsive to your needs. Thank you.
Please respond by writing to us via the “Contact Us” message form on the blog, including your mailing address and lst and 2nd choices. Please write soon, because supplies of individual styles are limited.
The choices include:Â Trinote, a desk-size weekly planner; Business, a pocket weekly planner; IB Traveler, a pocket weekly planner; Monthly 4, a desk-size monthly planner; Journal 21, a daily desk-size planner; and Notor, a daily desk-size planner. 
November 23rd
Speaking of bookmarks, here’s a new product that might interest people who like elastic closures on their covers: the, uh, elastic bookmark.
Bascially, the idea is that you slip the bookmark into your planner or notebook, then wrap the elastic around the front and back covers to keep them closed. The brown-and-tan colored closure is supposed to complement a variety of cover colors, while the ruler gives you a handy way to, you know, measure (it’s marked in centimeters and inches).
At 5 inches tall, it’s a bit big for my Sapa X planner, but it fits nicely onto my large- and medium-sized Clairefontaine notebooks, and will be great way of making sure they stay closed whenever I toss them in my bag. I suppose there’s no reason you couldn’t use it for ordinary books, as well.
The other side, if you’re curious, features a little globe graphic:
The elastic bookmark retails for $1.50 and is available now, so ask your favorite retailer if you’re interested.
